New temporary linkway is tested

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One of the common questions the project team get is about how a link between hospitals will be maintained during construction of the acute services building between Westmead Hospital and The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. The answer is through much careful planning and consideration!

Last Friday project team members got together with representatives from Westmead Hospital, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Work Health and Safety to run through a test exercise of the proposed ramp which will connect the temporary linkway at each end of the hospitals. A test ramp was specially constructed to review its capacity for safe patient transferrals.

“The current linkway represents an integral part of the neonatal infant transfer process. It’s critical that these high-dependency babies are able to be brought through to receive necessary care in a safe, secure and timely manner,” project director Deanne Turner said.

“The project team recognises the significance of preserving this vital link to ensure that all patients who utilise this service can continue to receive the best possible care as soon as possible.”

“It’s important that we test and retest infrastructure components like the linkway ramp to make sure they’re functional before we move ahead with the final installation. Something as critical as the safety of newborns during transfer can’t be second guessed—we need to iron out any kinks to ensure a seamless transition when we switch over to the temporary linkway,” project director Tim Mason said.

The temporary linkway will commence construction in September.

For the best source of updates on the temporary linkway be sure to check this website and read our weekly project update.

If you have a question you’d like answered by the Redevelopment team, contact us.

Photo caption: Left - Group photo of people testing the linkway, Right - Three staff test the neonatal transfer cot.